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Kevin Maxwell

Dear Kim, I just read your letter to me you posted. It is one of the most beautiful things I have read in a long time. You are right that people don’t do snail mail anymore, I can’t remember the last time I wrote such a letter. Writing has become a lost art, so it…

It is a good thing that Theresa May’s Conservative government is introducing an Alan Turing Law to pardon gay men convicted of historical victimless sexual crimes – that is what I wrote for The Independent last month. No one should be criminalised for being gay. At the start of the century, I was still policing these sex crimes…

Like most people, I felt wretched last year when I saw The Independent’s front page of Alan Kurdi, the three-year old Syrian boy lying face down in the sand after drowning in the Mediterranean sea – his family trying to get to Europe, from war-torn Syria. Then came the disappointing rhetoric of my government, but like most…

Until recently, I didn’t even realise I was a Black Gay Man. Gay – yes, but Black – no. Ridiculous, it sounds. I lived in a world in which I thought I was accepted because of my mixed-race heritage, so I had no reason to consciously think about my blackness. I was just me. That…

Last Friday, I decided to take a break from social media. That was until Tuesday gone, when I learned that Sky News had published a short film I had done with the channel about racism in the UK. Over the years, I’ve learnt that many deny racism exists in Britain. To live in such a…

I was speaking with my Lithuanian friend who told me that he and his friend read my posts about my mum, and that it was unusual a child has so much love for a parent, expressing it in the way I do. My friend is a good guy, who said my writing brought him warmth…

As Manchester pride, one of Europe’s biggest LGBT festivals, draws to a close, I realise something. That I am not a gay man, but a black gay man. For many black LGBT people like me, pride ironically is one of those events that excludes you. A time when as gay people we are supposedly meant…

Yesterday on social media, I congratulated Britain’s Nicola Adams on winning Gold at the Rio Olympics, and all the other Black women before her who have done the same. It struck me that they were positive role models for all children around the world. However, some white men didn’t like what I had written. This got me thinking…

Last Friday I heard about the Black Lives Matter movement protests around the UK, in particular that the M4 motorway into Heathrow Airport had been blocked by those protesting against police brutality and violence towards people of colour. It was then that I saw comment after comment from white people saying that racism in Britain…

In the early hours of the morning UK time, I watched Barack Obama speak as President of the United States for the last time at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, in the hope of getting Hillary Clinton into the White House next year. Just a few days ago, I watched as First Lady Michelle Obama…

Today Theresa May takes over the helm of what many are calling the Brexit sinking ship as UK Prime Minister, after being chosen by just 199 Tory MPs as their leader. Yesterday, Her Majesty’s Official Opposition failed in removing its own leader in a coup. And I’ve just learnt that there will now be a debate on the EU…

My heart sank when I heard about the shooting of 49 people in Orlando, with many more injured, at a LGBT nightclub. As a gay man, my first thoughts were for my LGBT brothers and sisters and their allies caught up in this act of violence. But then my sadness turned to disappointment. As a…

Today, I had the pleasure of meeting Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, known to many as ‘The Black Farmer’. I’ve been fortunate to have met lots of interesting people over the years for coffee and a chat, but Wilfred is someone who took me by surprise. The British black farmer is a force to be reckoned with, and an inspiring man. Wilfred…

As a former Scotland Yard detective, I was curious to read the book Undercover: The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police by Rob Evans and Paul Lewis and today finished it. Fundamentally, it is an investigation by The Guardian’s two journalists into the UK’s undercover policing operations and whether we as the British public consent to…

With one thing and another, I hadn’t visited my hometown of Liverpool for some time. But recently I’d been thinking about it a lot, especially my family and friends there. And added to this was the article I wrote last month for The Independent, about anti-fascists coming to the city. On Sunday however, I found…

Yesterday, a White Man March was due to take place in my hometown of Liverpool by the controversial National Action. At first, I was sceptical about why my city was allowing this to take place especially given its diversity. I’m all for freedom of speech, tolerance and the likes, but this wasn’t about any of these.…

Max News

Hello & welcome to Max News, my ‘View from the Bottom’ blog. A voice for those who don’t have one, sharing my opinion about the arts, culture, politics & social issues that hopefully matters. It’s inclusive not exclusive & my views are my own & not those of My Mum or others, unless stolen.